Bodies of Water

This project was exhibited at the Water Matters exhibition as part of the “Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften" in Berlin. The call for submissions was for projects speaking on water-related climate issues in the Berlin-Brandenburg region, mostly surrounding the Elbe river. While I deem these issues to be vital, documentary photography was not the medium through which I chose to approach this subject. Both as a person and an artist, I tend to see and experience the world through a philosophical lens, and its “big ideas“. This is why I chose to instead explore some of the most significant relationships between climate change and water at play on our planet. I wanted this exploration to be intimate, and to put the viewer in a state of introspection, so I made the human body my canvas.

Our bodies are made up of water, and we need water to survive — yet we are the sole cause of its depletion. Added to this dichotomy are the vast differences between use of water in the West and the relationship to water in the rest of the world. In these black and white photographs and their accompanying texts, I offer the viewer an opportunity to think about these dynamics in pragmatic terms, but also to dive into whatever feelings surround them, almost in a primal way. In sum, I invite you to embark with me on a journey of big ideas.

Water Distribution

The Earth’s surface is made up of over 70 percent water – and yet, access to clean water is one of the most pressing issues of our time. While we in the West have easy access to water and don’t suffer from water contamination, many regions of the world do, which leads to diseases, crops dying, infertility and more. The water crisis that took place in Flint, Michigan from 2014 to 2019 showed us that when these water issues happen in the West, we care. But what about the rest of the world?

“While I take baths, swim in pools and go to spas, I wonder how you experience water. What is your relationship to it? Can I put a price on your struggle? On my luxury?”

Drought

According to the WHO, more than 55 million people are affected by droughts each year. Climate change causes temperatures to rise, which leads to more and more water to evaporate. Our planet’s water is drying out, and as we know, women and children are among the first victims of climate change. What happens to these women when there is no more access to water? How far must they walk to retrieve it? What happens to crops and agriculture, in regions where there is no such things as industrial farming?

“I think about the terrible urgency I feel when I am thirsty and don't have access to water. I think about dry and empty deserts, spread across our world. I wonder what it feels like for all the water to leave our bodies.”

Floods

The terrible floods that took place in mid-July of 2021 in Germany took the lives of over 220 people. They ravaged homes, land, and infrastructure. The floods in West Germany have been called a 400-year event by scientist, meaning that there was a 1-in-400 chance of such heavy rains happening in any given year. Despite the rarity of such an event, it is becoming more and more likely - if temperatures rise by two degrees Celcius, the probably of it happening again and again will increase even further.

”A natural disaster, we call it. We say this to imply we cannot control it, there is nothing we can do. What is natural about it? As you lay in bed, remembering the beast that swallowed your life, do you see that I did this? That we did this? Are you angry?”

Symbiosis

There has always been chaos on our planet. There has always been conflict, war, battles, death and disasters. As true as that might be, our world has also always been perfectly harmonious. Whether through a religious, scientific or metaphysical lens, everything that is natural in our world works exactly the way it is supposed to. Every disease, brain function or biological process is inherently and fundamentally perfect. In this way, so is our world's relationship with water - the ways it creates it out of thin air, how much there is, how much we need, how much is inside us, how billions of plants and cells interact with it...

“I feel you beside me. I know you're there. I go to grab your hand, I feel its warmth close to mine, radiating. I clasp my fingers, and you disappear.”

Global Warming

The past seven years have been the warmest ever recorded, and we have released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since 1950 than in all previous millenia. Climate change has been observed from all countries, by thousands of scientists and researchers, and even from space. There are countless devastating effects of our temperatures rising, some of which I explore in this series - but the difficult truth is that we are the sole perpetrators. As industry keeps growing, feeding capitalism, we slowly kill our plants, our oceans, and ultimately ourselves.

“It is easy to sit here and write about this. It is easy to discuss it, depict it, debate it, and think it. But when it rains in August, and when it's warm in winter, all you say is 'global warming, eh?'“

Life Source

Water is the source of all life. We are 70 percent water, our world is (coincidentally?) made up of 71 percent of water, and all beings require it to survive. As climate change continues on at high speed, and the world population grows bigger than its resources, will we reach a time when it is no longer possible to have children? When no new beings come to life?

“In the bath, I pull my weight to the bottom of the tub, my head underwater. Through the ceramic, I can hear the sounds of life happening below and around. I don't recall, but my body does: this is what it sounds like to be in the womb. This is what I - we heard, before ever existing. This is my original face.”

Melting Glaciers

Glaciers have structured the landscapes we know and love for millions of years as they continuously and slowly move through our lands. They impact our ocean currents, weather, freshwater, and agriculture, and have existed on every continent. Because of global warming, many alpine glaciers have been disappearing at alarming rates, thus engendering a ripple effect with dramatic consequences.

“You are standing on a cliff. In your single eye, all you see are mountains, of stone and ice. You are nothing, a small nothing. The world is big, and can eat you whole. Are you afraid? Is its beauty terrifying? This is The Sublime - what will you do with it?”

Dying Oceans

Much of our world’s biodiversity is in our oceans, with many corners of it yet to be discovered. The health of oceans depends on their biodiversity, and in turn, oceans and the life inside them are an essential aspect of climate regulation. As human activity engenders more climate change, oceans suffer and the climate is disrupted further.

“The ocean is a woman: vulnerable, beautiful, complex, angry and passionate. One who holds terrible power and great calm, and who reminds you of your place in the world in the simple movement of a tide.”

Oil Spills

Oil is one of the most used and ancient fossil fuels on the planet. We use it for most things: heat, power, electricity... But when oil spills into the oceans, when that dark mass quietly seeps into our waters and slowly kills the life within it, it can no longer be ignored. According to the NOAA, thousands of oil spills happen in the U.S each year. As we transport petroleum from one shore to the other, to fulfill our "needs", we put the many lives beneath in danger. When the equivalent of 200 Olympic-sized pools of oil spilled into the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, how many lives were affected, and how does it affect our world today?

“You are asleep. You are dreaming. In your dream, you are swimming in the ocean. Suddenly, everything starts to turn black and viscous. You realize you cannot move. You start to panic. You never wake up.”